


Day 17: “Stay with Me”

by orphan_account



Series: Whump-tober 2019 [17]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, FAHC, Fake AH Crew, Gen, Whumptober 2019, battle buddies, day no. 17, ending up for interpretation, happy ending??, ”Stay with Me”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 22:27:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21260636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “You’re everything good in my life...”





	Day 17: “Stay with Me”

Ryan rushed through the doors of the hospital, ignoring nurses and doctors who tried to stop him and ask him questions. He knew where he was going, he'd gotten the call only a few minutes ago. Everything seemed distant and muffled, sounds blending together into incoherent white noise as he made his way quickly to the room he'd been told was his destination, terror filling him at what he might find there. He slowed as the room number came into his line of sight, walking forward slowly and swallowing hard, heart in his throat and mouth dry.

The door was closed, the blinds drawn blocking his view of the interior. His hand hovered over the doorknob, hesitating. He both wanted to enter and run away at the same time. Beyond this door were answers and questions, pain and to a degree relief. He wasn't sure what he was going to do as he stood there outside the room.

"Fuck," he breathed as he finally grasped the knob and turned, slowly pushing the door open, his anxiety rising with every second that passed.

He stepped into the room, quickly closing his eyes, squeezing them shut and taking a shaky breath before slowly opening them. Jack was there, looking at him with sad eyes, his beard slightly singed and his clothes showing signs of a fight. They said nothing, but the emotion swirling in his green-brown eyes told him things weren't good. Behind the large man sat Gavin and Michael, both staring ahead as if in shock, arms wrapped around each other in a desperate need for comfort and something familiar and safe. Neither spoke, but Gavin was sniffling, Ryan feeling his heart plummeting.

He slowly turned to his left, eyes meeting Geoff, the gent sitting there looking at him with a lost look which terrified Ryan more than anything, never seeing his friend like this before. He was used to seeing Geoff being the strong leader who masked his emotions to stay strong for the others, to be the solid foundation they all needed. Seeing their leader looking at him this way, was enough to strike cold fear into the man's heart.

Geoff stood and walked to him, pausing in front of him and reaching a hand out towards his arm, hesitating before making contact as if unsure if he should. Ryan felt himself begin to tremble, fear all he knew in the moment as he nervously bit his lip.

"Geoff?"

His voice sounded strange to him, hollow, wavering. He tried to clear his throat but his body wasn't responding to his brain anymore. Without hesitation this time, Geoff grabbed Ryan and pulled him into a tight hug, squeezing the taller man and letting out a small gasp as he fought back the tears.

"W-What happened?" Ryan stammered.

"It's not good Rye Bread, it's...he's..." Geoff couldn't finish his sentence.

"We'll give you some space. Boys," Jack spoke softly, his voice snapping something in everyone, the lad's standing and slowly leaving the room with Jack following close behind, reaching out an arm as Geoff wandered to the bigger man's side, the two leaving and closing the door quietly behind them.

Ryan was left alone in the room, his eyes on the floor where he'd averted his gaze, not wanting to see what lay before him just yet. He clenched and unclenched his hands into fists, the trembling getting a little worse. He grit his teeth and noticed he was breathing hard and fast, concentrating on calming himself down. Finally, he took a deep breath and raised his head, eyes falling on the hospital bed before him.

The figure that lay there was small, somehow smaller than usual, and he nearly lost control when he saw just how many bandages were wrapped around various parts of the body, the amount of tubes and wires coming out of the figure to attach to heart monitors and other various kinds of equipment that were working hard to keep their host alive. He felt tears flooding his eyes, vision going blurry as he took a small step forward, then another and another until he was beside the bed, collapsing into the chair pulled up beside it. He slowly reached out and grasped one of the still hands, trying to ignore just how limp and cold it was, not death cold but enough to make his heart skip a beat.

"H-hey buddy, it's m-me. You gotta stay strong for me now okay? I n-need you to fight this. I need you," he breathed, voice choked as the tears started to spill down his cheeks. The figure remained unresponsive, almost peaceful in the stillness that filled the air between them.

"I uh, I made sure they paid, paid for what they d-did to you. I'm sorry I didn't make it to you in time!" Ryan was openly crying now, shame thrown to the wind as he gazed down on the small figure.

"Damn it Jeremy, please don't leave me. Please come back to me! You gotta stay with me okay? Battle Buddies remember? We stick together no matter what and how can I do that if you die on me? So you gotta stay with me. Please, stay with me," he begged, lowering his head to Jeremy's chest and weeping, squeezing the lad's hand gently and rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

The others stood outside the door, trying not to listen to their friend's desperate cries and pleading as they stood together in a large group hug, holding each other close as if any of them could slip away at any moment. Ryan cried himself till he had nothing left, hiccuping softly as he lay, head still resting on his friend's chest. He couldn't loose Jeremy, not Lil' J! They'd been through so much together, grown so close over the years. He'd nearly forgotten what it was like to feel until the lad waltzed into their group and made his mark, and his spot in Ryan's cold heart permanent. He'd been close to people before, yes, but Jeremy was different. Jeremy made him want to be the best he could ever be, made him want to tell jokes and stupid puns and laugh and smile, made him want to take long drives at night with windows down, wind whipping about their faces and tousling their hair into a terrible mess they'd laugh at later.

Jeremy was everything good in his life, everything worth pushing forward day by day. And now, he was going to lose all that. Lose the cheerful smiles on slightly rosy pink cheeks, lose the bubbly high pitched laughter that was so contagious no one could help but laugh along, lose the close companionship of a friend who knew more about him than any human alive, loose the words of encouragement, the visual displays of hard work and determination, the music played way too loudly in the shower in the mornings, the midnight picnics on the roof.

"Stay with me, Battle Buddy," he whispered as he squeezed Jeremy's hand once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, happy last day of Oct I guess. I hate that I wasn’t able to keep up with this challenge but real life happens. If y’all want, tell me and I’ll finish out the writings up to 31, if not I’ll just post the few drafts I have. Either way thank y’all so much for reading and leaving kudos! Also let me know if you’d like me to continue any of these and I’ll add some extra parts to them!


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